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There will be a public review period for Volume 1 – Cycling Master Plan and a Public Information Session (including presentation) on Monday, April 19, 2010 @ 7-9 p.m. at Noel Ryan Auditorium, Central Library, 301 Burnhamthorpe Road West (map).
The presentation begins at 7:30 p.m. Click here for POSTER.
The agenda for the evening is:
- 7:00 – 7:30 Informal open house to preview the presentation boards and network maps
- 7:30 – 7:45 welcome and overview of the project
- 7:45- 8:15 presentation of the draft cycling master plan
- 8:15 – 8:30 Q&A
- 8:30 – 8:50 Turning point questions
- 8: 50 – 9:00 Closing remarks and next steps
Click for the Draft Cycling Master Plan documents on the City’s webpage.
City of Mississauga, Press Release (April 7, 2010): Draft Cycling Master Plan Public Information Session.
Excerpt:
“‘We developed the draft plan by taking into account international best practices as well as relevant legislation and guidelines. Most importantly though, over 1,000 Mississauga citizens have already provided their input,’ said Anne Farrell, planner, Community Services. ‘We are returning to the public after the consultation process to show how their recommendations have helped shape the final plan.’”
BACKGROUND
The Draft Report (Volume 1), of the new Cycling Master Plan for Mississauga was presented for information at the General Committee of Council on March 24, 2010 (link to the Minutes will be provided here when available) and went to Council for Approval on March 31, 2010.
NOTE: Ward 2 Councillor Pat Mullin moved a Resolution (click to view), as requested by the Mississauga Cycling Advisory Committee (MCAC), for staff to provide Council with financial scenarios to accelerate the implementation of the Master Plan from 20 years to as soon as 5 years. The Resolution passed unanimously at General Committee on March 24th and was adopted by Council on March 31, 2010.
Mississauga News article (March 25, 2010): City plans expanded bike system. Excerpt: “Although Mullin hails the new plan as a ‘major shift’ in philosophy, from seeing cycling as primarily a recreational activity to an alternative form of transportation, she’d like to speed things up. ‘It’s got to be now, not in 20 years…it’s doable if the political will is there.’ Currently, only about 0.3 per cent of vehicles on Mississauga roads are bicycles; the City hopes to boost that to 10 per cent. The new plan, which aims to put 95 per cent of residents within one kilometre of a major cycling route, would also include parking facilities at transit hubs and City facilities.”
Volume 2 of the Master Plan: Cycling Implementation Strategy, will be prepared in April and May and incorporated into the Final Master Plan Report which will go to Council for approval in June 2010.
The Cycling Master Plan, two years in process starting in 2008, has been informed by significant public and stakeholder engagement and by collaboration with the Mississauga Cycling Advisory Committee (MCAC), which is an advisory committee to Council with twelve (12) volunteer citizen members from every Ward in the City.
I’m so impressed! Looks like Mississauga will set an example for other cities who are dragging their feet about implementing a plan to improve the quality of life for their community. Encouraging people to get out of their cars and feel safe to walk and cycle for both recreation and transportation is good for the health of the individuals and the environment.
Will there be a place at Streetsville Park to re-charge an e-bike at the end of the bike tour?
I don’t know where to put this, but this time around I have an actual constructive suggestion.
The stretch of Hurontario Street between Matthews Gate and Robert Speck Pkwy. has just enough space for bike lanes on both sides without disturbing general traffic, but that space is currently kept on the median side of each carriageway.
I’ve created a conceptual drawing of a reconfiguration that could be done by simply repainting the street. Lanes do need to be narrowed at some points, but the general traffic through lanes are at least 3.5 metres wide, except where they are presently narrower than that.
Turning lanes stay exactly as they are, except that the solid white line starts further upstream from the intersection in the case of right turn lanes, to discourage motorists from straddling the bike lane for long distances. The bike lanes are 1.5 metres wide when at the curb and at least 1.7 metres wide when beside a turning lane.
In an ideal world, turning tapers would be removed and farside bus bays added. This would solve the problem of motorists turning right as if the street were a highway. However, since funds for that aren’t likely to materialize, continuous bike lane markings where approaching turning tapers (like at the Queensway and South Kingsway interchange) should work.
Here is the file: http://12121212.no-ip.info/l/public/Hurontario bike lane proposal.pdf
Sorry, the link didn’t work properly.
http://12121212.no-ip.info/l/public/Hurontario bike lane proposal.pdf
This looks like a good start
but how do we get to the Lake???
^ Well, all of Hurontario from the QEW to the 401 has room for sharrows in a 4 metre wide right lane (the other two being 3.5 m wide), and the section between the Queensway and Kirwin/Hillcrest can get bike lanes everywhere except at signalized intersections, where only sharrows can be accommodated. The freeway interchanges are, well, frightening, but could be modified similarly to the The Queensway/South Kingsway interchange (with more abrupt ramp deflections, marked crosswalks with pedestrian right-of-way, and repeated sharrows) to make them safer for cyclists and especially pedestrians (the 403 interchange is IMO the most important, since it forms the main link between the planned downtown and uptown areas). As for south of the QEW, there is a nice multi-use path for most of the way.
To be clear, all of the bike lanes and sharrows listed in my last post can be done without any widening, while the interchange improvements can only be partially done using the existing pavement.
Sorry for the multi-post spam.
What is a Sharrow??
How ;do we get to Lakeshore Drive from north of l;the QEW???
Toronto has a FAQ on sharrows here: http://www.toronto.ca/cycling/network/sharrow_faq.htm
Mississauga’s Draft Cycling Master Plan also has a chapter describing the different types of cycle routes.
Between the QEW and the CNR, Kirwin Avenue/Camilla Road is a lower-traffic alternative. In the summer, you can cross the CNR using the Cooksville Creek Trail, which runs south from Burnhamthorpe just east of Hurontario and ends at Paisley Boulevard. Also, Confederation Parkway has bike lanes for its entire length.
At the QEW interchange, Hurontario used to have a multi-use trail in a separate tunnel, connecting directly to the multi-use trail south of it, but I’m not sure if it is still open after the interchange reconfiguration. In any case, a narrow sidewalk through the underpass was added on the east side. The multi-use trail on Hurontario goes from the QEW to around Inglewood Drive; the remainder can easily be done on-street.